Economic and trade cooperation between Hungary and North Rhine-Westphalia will have a major influence on the growth path of the Hungarian economy in the future, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in Duesseldorf on Monday.

North Rhine-Westphalia has become the state in Germany from where most business investments arrive in Hungary, he told a press conference. A total of 49,000 people in Hungary are employed by companies from North Rhine-Westphalia and their annual turnover is over 11 billion euros, he said.

Among Germany’s states, North Rhine-Westphalia attracts the third largest Hungarian export, he added.

He said it was very important that companies from North Rhine-Westphalia, having invested in Hungary, clearly welcomed the government’s amendment proposals that aim to improve the country’s competitiveness and address labour shortage problems. As a result of the challenges caused by low unemployment in Hungary, these companies had long been asking the government to ensure the sufficient workforce required for carrying out their investment projects, he added.

Hungary’s attractiveness among German investors can be maintained with the help of proposals that make the labour market more competitive, he said.

Companies from North Rhine-Westphalia are mainly involved in modernising the Hungarian car industry and they are happy to take those investment projects to Hungary that reflect an era of an innovative car industry, Szijjártó said. Such projects are important to the Hungarian economy because the car industry currently accounts for 28 percent of the manufacturing sector’s output and its competitiveness largely depends on the extent of modern investments, he added.

Featured image: MTI

Source: MTI